Our North Loop Apartment

We've been here for almost 2 months(!), and we're loving our new home. I have promised some pics to friends and family who haven't been able to visit yet. Last weekend, I finally got around to taking some pictures of our apartment now that we're fully unpacked!

Our unit is long and narrow...here's looking back at the entryway - all rooms are to the right

Living room - and you can kind of see our patio to the right outside the window - our favorite spot!

Our kitchen - notice the 3/4 walls that don't quite reach the ceiling

Our bar and Salvation Army table

Master bedroom

Den/second bedroom/office/laundry/storage (basically the Jack of all Trades room!

Green guest bath

NYC...One More Time!

I realize I'm a bit delinquent on posting. Getting used to a new schedule here has been an adjustment, but we're loving it! Coming soon: pictures of our apartment now that we're fully moved in.

But before that, I have one last post about our time out east that I want to share. Once we found out we were moving back, we realized we had one last bucket list item...visiting Yankees Stadium! Luckily we were able to coordinate one free weekend with a home game, and as usual, visiting New York was an incredible adventure. It was the first time we visited with truly excellent weather, so we felt very lucky as we sat in the bleachers at the game! The game itself was really fun. Mike got tickets right in the midst of the "Bleacher Creatures" and what fabulous fans! Every player and occurrence in the game had a different reaction or tradition they followed. This was especially true for Jeter during his final season. It was noisy and full of heart - exactly like the city!

Ready to go in!

The view from some very expensive seats...we did not sit here!

On the subway ride home, we had a surprise show. Three guys turned on their music and started break dancing in the moving car. Truly talented and entertaining!

Enjoying a perfect night in Bryant Park after the game

Two of our favorite meals were this trip too. A friend recommended Peruvian restaurant Pio Pio for dinner and it did not disappoint! Also we tried a local pizzeria...seriously some of the best pizza I've had. Fantastically appropriate! The best part about these meals is they were two blocks from our space age hotel, Yotel. I think our favorite in the city, it was modern and high efficiency - for example, the bed was recline-able and acted as a couch too!

Pizza!

 One of the other fabulous aspects of great weather in New York was being able to wander through Central Park in the sunshine. Every 5 feet there was a different language being spoken, and people enjoying the glorious weather. We're going to miss our quick weekends in this city!

Enjoying Central Park!

Catch up in Minneapolis

I've been a bit delinquent in my posting because we've been very busy unpacking this week. We're nearing completion, so here's a few pics from the last week!

Mike unpacking the kitchen.  Yes, just as much paper was used this time around. Whoever recommended flattening the paper and repacking the empty boxes was a genius!

View from the kitchen...you can't tell, but our patio is the only place set up. Thank goodness because we can eat dinner there in peace!

Master closet/bath

Oh, and because it's not all work, we've been trying out the local restaurant scene a bit! Smack Shack is already a favorite!

Now, today I get to take advantage of the plethora of local Targets and a new to us SUV with lots of space!

Packing for MN

So, this happened today! Packing up the van tomorrow, and flying back on Friday!

Gladiator at the Mann

One of our Philly bucket list items has been to go to the Mann Theater in Fairmont Park. It's an outdoor amphitheater in the Philly city limits and the summer home of the Philadelphia Orchestra. We got tickets with some friends from work and went to see a screening of Gladiator that had the orchestra playing the full score in the background (think karaoke for any soundtrack - all voices were still the actors). So cool! We got lawn tickets and everyone brought picnic chairs/blankets and food and wine to enjoy the film. Fantastic! So great in fact that we went back to see Star Trek last Thursday! 

Hiking!

For the last few weekends, we've been enjoying beautiful weather and the abundance of great hiking trails in the area! A few trails have been close by, but our biggest hiking adventure was a few weekends ago about an hour away. We started off aiming for a 5 mile loop, then decided to continue onto the 10 mile loop, which would have been intense on its own. But, somehow, we missed a turn and instead of back int he parking lot, we found ourselves 2 miles up the Appalachian trail! Thank goodness for cell phones with GPS to get us back to the car safely, albeit very tired after an unexpected half marathon distance hike!

First, an interesting stop the day before our infamous hike: Indian Echo Caves just outside of Hershey, PA

Halfway!

Mike is 5 feet from a rattlesnake right now! Yikes! From this vantage point, we could see hawks soaring below us - so cool!

Water Reservoir...this means we've almost made it back to the parking lot!

Morris Arboretum

A few pictures from my visit to the arboretum a couple weeks ago.